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Economic crisis in Europe and equity in health

© SusanneB / Getty Images / iStockEdited by Amaia Bacigalupe, Antonio Escolar Pujolar, and Miguel San Sebastian
International Journal for Equity in Health

An unprecedented economic crisis is affecting Europe, focusing mainly on the southern countries. Improving health and reducing health inequalities in this macro-economic environment is going to be a great challenge. This series showcases research from different disciplines and methodologies on a wide range of topics relating to the economic crisis in Europe and health inequalities.

This collection of articles has not been sponsored and articles have undergone the journal’s standard peer-review process. The Guest Editors declare no competing interests.

Read the associated blog: "How do we manage the health impact of the economic crisis in Europe?"

View all collections published in International Journal for Equity in Health

  1. The recent economic and financial crisis in Portugal urged the Portuguese Government in April 2011 to request financial assistance from the troika austerity bail out program to get aid for its government debt....

    Authors: Julia Doetsch, Eva Pilot, Paula Santana and Thomas Krafft
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2017 16:184
  2. The effects of the recent global economic and financial crisis especially affected the most vulnerable social groups. Objective of the study was to investigate variation of self-perceived health status in Ital...

    Authors: Alessio Petrelli, Anteo Di Napoli, Alessandra Rossi, Gianfranco Costanzo, Concetta Mirisola and Lidia Gargiulo
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2017 16:98
  3. Periods of financial crisis are associated with higher psychological stress among the population and greater use of mental health services. The objective is to analyse contextual factors associated with mental...

    Authors: Isabel Ruiz-Pérez, Clara Bermúdez-Tamayo and Miguel Rodríguez-Barranco
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2017 16:45
  4. Several studies suggest that socioeconomic status affects (SES) affects self-rated health (SRH), both in Greece and internationally. However, prior research mainly uses objective measures of SES, instead of su...

    Authors: Antonios Charonis, Ilias-Ioannis Kyriopoulos, Manos Spanakis, Dimitris Zavras, Kostas Athanasakis, Elpida Pavi and John Kyriopoulos
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2017 16:40
  5. The recent economic crisis has been a major shock not only to the economic sector, but also to the rest of society. Our main objective in this paper is to show the impact of the economic crisis on convergence,...

    Authors: Laia Maynou and Marc Saez
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:135

    The Erratum to this article has been published in International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:178

  6. Greece has been severely affected by the 2008 global economic crisis and its health system was, and still is, among the national institutions most shaped by its effects.

    Authors: Angeliki Kerasidou, Patricia Kingori and Helena Legido-Quigley
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:118
  7. Physical inactivity is associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality and entails a substantial economic burden for health systems. Also, the analysis of inequality in lifestyles for young population...

    Authors: Eduardo Gonzalo-Almorox and Rosa M. Urbanos-Garrido
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:106
  8. The association between income inequality and societal performance has been intensely debated in recent decades. This paper reports how unmet need for medical care has changed in Europe during The Great Recess...

    Authors: Jon Ivar Elstad
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:101
  9. Since the beginning of economic crisis, Greece has been experiencing unprecedented levels of unemployment and profound cuts to public budgets. Health and welfare sectors were subject to severe austerity measur...

    Authors: Marina Karanikolos and Alexander Kentikelenis
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:83
  10. Unemployment has a number of negative consequences, such as decreased income and poor self-rated health. However, the relationships between unemployment, income, and health are not fully understood. Longitudin...

    Authors: Anne Grete Tøge
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:75
  11. An economic crisis can widen health inequalities between individuals. The aim of this paper is to explore differences in the effect of socioeconomic characteristics on Spaniards’ self-assessed health status, d...

    Authors: Clara Barroso, Ignacio Abásolo and José J. Cáceres
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:62
  12. Numerous studies have shown that macroeconomic changes have a great influence on health, prompting different concerns in recent literature about the effects of the current recession. The objetive of the study ...

    Authors: Amaia Bacigalupe, Santiago Esnaola and Unai Martín
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:17
  13. Earlier research shows that there is an association between unemployment and poor mental health, and that recovery from the damages to mental health obtained during unemployment remains incomplete over a long ...

    Authors: Pekka Virtanen, Anne Hammarström and Urban Janlert
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:14
  14. Changes over time in self-rated health (SRH) are increasingly documented during the current economic crisis, though whether these are due to selection, causation, or methodological artefacts is unclear. This s...

    Authors: Dawit Shawel Abebe, Anne Grete Tøge and Espen Dahl
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:1

    The Erratum to this article has been published in International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:52

  15. Between 2006 and 2011 self-rated health (SRH) (the subjective report of an individual’s health status) actually improved in Spain despite its being in the grips of a serious economic recession. This study exam...

    Authors: Elena Arroyo, Gemma Renart and Marc Saez
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2015 14:149
  16. Health inequalities reflect multidimensional inequality (income, education, and other indicators of socioeconomic position) and vary across countries and welfare regimes. To which extent there is intergenerati...

    Authors: Louis Chauvel and Anja K. Leist
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2015 14:132
  17. Inspired by the ‘Fundamental Cause Theory (FCT)’ we explore social inequalities in preventable versus relatively less-preventable illnesses in Spain. The focus is on the education-health gradient, as education...

    Authors: A.R. Zapata Moya, V. Buffel, C.J. Navarro Yáñez and P. Bracke
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2015 14:131
  18. Given the increasing number of people in Spain struggling to pay housing-related costs during the economic recession, it is important to assess the health status of these communities as compared to the general...

    Authors: Ana M. Novoa, Julia Ward, Davide Malmusi, Fernando Díaz, Mercè Darnell, Carme Trilla, Jordi Bosch and Carme Borrell
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2015 14:120
  19. The objectives of the study were to explore the effect of the economic crisis on child health using Spain as a case study, and to document and assess the policies implemented in response to the crisis in this ...

    Authors: Luis Rajmil, Arjumand Siddiqi, David Taylor-Robinson and Nick Spencer
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2015 14:95
  20. The economic crisis brought an unprecedented attention to the issue of health system sustainability in the developed world. The discussion, however, has been mainly limited to “traditional” issues of cost-effe...

    Authors: Lycourgos Liaropoulos and Ilias Goranitis
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2015 14:80
  21. While previous research already exists on the impact of the current economic crisis and whether it leads to an increase in mortality by suicide, our objective in this paper is to determine if the increase in t...

    Authors: Carme Saurina, Manel Marzo and Marc Saez
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2015 14:75
  22. In 2009, Europe was hit by one of the worst debt crises in history. Although the Eurozone crisis is often depicted as an effect of government mismanagement and corruption, it was a consequence of the 2008 U.S....

    Authors: Roberto De Vogli
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2014 13:58
  23. Although suicide rates have increased in some European countries in relation to the current economic crisis and austerity policies, that trend has not been observed in Spain. This study examines the impact of ...

    Authors: Juan Antonio Córdoba-Doña, Miguel San Sebastián, Antonio Escolar-Pujolar, Jesús Enrique Martínez-Faure and Per E Gustafsson
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2014 13:55
  24. To investigate the magnitude of barriers in access to health services for chronic patients and the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics that affect them.

    Authors: Ilias-Ioannis Kyriopoulos, Dimitris Zavras, Anastasis Skroumpelos, Katerina Mylona, Kostas Athanasakis and John Kyriopoulos
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2014 13:54
  25. To analyze the impacts of pharmaceutical sector policies implemented to contain country spending during the economic recession – a reference price system in Finland and a mix of policies including changes in r...

    Authors: Christine Leopold, Fang Zhang, Aukje K Mantel-Teeuwisse, Sabine Vogler, Silvia Valkova, Dennis Ross-Degnan and Anita K Wagner
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2014 13:53
  26. The social insurance system in Sweden underwent extensive change between 2006 and 2010, with the overall aim of making people enter the labour market. At the same time, economic recession hit Sweden. Previous ...

    Authors: Sandra Blomqvist, Bo Burström and Mona C Backhans
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2014 13:51
  27. Health-income inequality has been the focus of many studies. The relationship between economic conditions and health has also been widely studied. However, not much is known about how changes in aggregate econ...

    Authors: Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir and Dagný Ósk Ragnarsdóttir
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2014 13:50